sutclifffandomcom-20200213-history
Chronology
This page summarises the evidence for the dating of each work of historical fiction. Click Show Contents for the list of works in chronological order. 2000-1000 BCE – Shifting Sands "In the winter of 1850, a great storm swept across Orkney. It uprooted the few stunted trees that the winds of other winters had allowed to grow. It hurled fishing-boats far up the beach, and smashed them like broken-backed sea-beasts on the rocks. It tore the roofs from cottages - and it stripped the binding grass from the great dune on Mainland, that the folk of those parts called Skara Brae, and set the sand dune moving. And there, as the sand drifted away, laid open to the sky for the first time in three or maybe four thousand years, were the remains of stone huts. Cold stone huts that had once made up a village, where people had lived and died and loved and hated, and told stories round the fire." Wikipedia suggests that the Skara Brae village was actually abandoned sometime between 3180-2500 BCE. 900 BCE – Warrior Scarlet From the Historical Note: "It is the story of a boy called Drem, who lived with his Tribe on what is now the South Downs, nine hundred years before the birth of Christ. His land and his people were not cut off from the world; the Baltic amber and blue Egyptian beads that the archaeologists find today in Bronze Age grave mounds show that clearly enough. But probably he never heard much of what went on in the world beyond his own hunting-runs; a world in which Troy had already fallen three hundred years ago, and Egypt was already past its greatest days, and a hollow among the hills by the ford of a rather muddy river had still more than a hundred years to wait before wild Latin herdsmen pitched their tents there and founded Rome." The story takes place over the course of seven years, following the protagonist from ages nine to sixteen. Bronze Age – The Chief's Daughter As a short story written for young children and set in prehistory, there is very little evidence for dating, except the presence of "A fine spear, its butt ending in a ball of enamelled bronze; an Irish spear!" Set in a coastal Welsh dun of turf banks surrounding a round hall, which protects a clan from Irish raiders in "skin-covered war-boats." The Welsh and Irish are said to speak different but not mutually unintelligible languages. The clan worships a standing stone called the Black Mother. Nessan and Dara are possessed of a blue glass bracelet and an amber necklace, respectively. Other names: Laethrig, Istoreth. Early Iron Age – Flowering Dagger The eponymous iron blade is a recognisable but rare import to the High Chalk of southern Britain in "Flowering Dagger". 415-404 BCE – The Flowers of Adonis The Flowers of Adonis spans the later phase of the Peloponnesian War, from the departure of the Sicilian Expedition in 415 to the death of Alkibiades in 404 BCE. 412 BCE – The Truce of the Games (A Crown of Wild Olive) Set during the late summer of 412 BCE, the year following the renewal of the Peloponnesian War in 413 after the Peace of Nikias: "the long and weary war which, after a while of uneasy peace, had broken out again last year between Athens and Sparta." An Olympics in 420 mentioned by Thucydides supports a date of 412, two four-year Olympic cycles later. 100 BCE – Sun Horse, Moon Horse Sutcliff specifies 100 BCE in the foreword. The principal events of the book are the creation of the Uffington White Horse and migration to Scotland of the Epidii, pushed by the Attribates, pushed in turn by the Romans. None of these things probably happened in 100 BCE. This book is a retconning of the Epidaii based on a book written in the 1960s, so the Epidii here don't closely resemble the Epid(a)ii of The Eagle of the Ninth (or The Changeling), who theoretically are their descendants, as the foreword acknowledges. Post-100 BCE – The Changeling "Long before the Epidii came following their white horse out of the sunrise, long before any of the Golden People, the little Dark Folk had been lords of the land. They were the People of the Hills, the hunters and the growers of corn. They were the builders of the great circle of standing stones on the high moors inland. But their slender weapons tipped with the dark blue flint had been no match for hard cutting bronze swords, and spears tipped with the magic grey fire-metal called Iron." Like The Chief's Daughter, a short story published for younger children. Written before Sun Horse, Moon Horse, and so perhaps before Sutcliff decided that the Epidii arrived in Scotland relatively late. (The "magic grey fire-metal" quote is closer to the treatment of iron in Warrior Scarlet than in'' Sun Horse, Moon Horse''.) Set among the Epidii in the Glen of the Chariot-Crossing, when they've been established there long enough for the chieftain's stockade to have "long since taken root and become a blackthorn hedge." 30-61 CE – Song for a Dark Queen Song for a Dark Queen follows Boudicca from youth to her death at age 31 in the rebellion of 60 or 61 CE. The opening chapter, in which Boudicca is six years old, takes place twenty-five years before the frame narration set immediately after her death. 61 CE – Death of a City (The Capricorn Bracelet) Dates for The Capricorn Bracelet are given in the chapter headings. The principal scenes take place in 60 and then 61, when Boudicca destroyed Londinium, framed by a narrator recounting the story sometime after the campaigns of (presumably) Agricola. 80-83 CE – Eagle's Egg The story takes as historical backdrop Agricola's Caledonian campaigns of 79-83 CE. Quintus meets Cordaella in late winter of 80, the winter following Agricola's first summer of campaigning in Caledonia and building program of the following autumn and winter. Their courtship takes place over the spring of 80, and the Ninth Legion leaves Eburacum in late spring of 80 (ch. 3). The summer of 80 is spent building a naval base on the Firth, then a string of forts in the spring of 81, preceding a push into the highlands in summer. There is some ambiguity in chapter 4 as to the passage of time, as three winters are said to pass, though only two are described. The winter of the mutiny in Inchtuthil is that of 82-83, as the battle of Mons Graupius takes place the following year in 83. 123 CE – Rome Builds a Wall (TCB) Dates for The Capricorn Bracelet are given in the chapter headings. The story takes place on Hadrian's Wall as it nears completion, as framed by the narrator in later life. 126-129 CE – The Eagle of the Ninth "Sometime about A. D. 117, the Ninth Legion, which was stationed at Eburacum, where York now stands, marched north to deal with a rising among the Caledonian tribes, and was never heard of again." – Author's note Marcus is ten years old when the legion disappears; joins the army at 18 and arrives in Britain at 19, when The Eagle of the Ninth opens; the novel spans three years. c.130 CE – Swallows in the Spring Swallows in the Spring's central incident takes place "a dozen years or more" since the disappearance of the Ninth Legion in 117 CE (as specified in The Eagle of the Ninth), within a frame set an indeterminate number of years later, after the narrator has graduated from a new decurion to a veteran centurion. 140s-150s CE – Outcast Outcast is perhaps the most ahistorical of the Roman novels. No historical figures appear in it, and the building of the Rhee Wall of Romney Marsh, which takes place in the later chapters, is now thought to have been of Norman date at the earliest. The chief clue to its place in Sutcliff's chronology is the remark that Isca Dumnoniorum, which sixteen-year-old Beric arrives in in chapter 4, revolted against the Roman garrison "a few years before he had been born" and was burned down in reprisal, which occurred in the early chapters of The Eagle of the Ninth in 126 CE, putting the beginning of Outcast at about 130 CE and its central events about 146-150 CE. 150 CE Outpost Fortress (TCB) Dates for The Capricorn Bracelet are given in the chapter headings. The story takes place in Trimontium, with a later frame narration, after the building of the Northern (Antonine) Wall: "Background for this story: AD 142. Lollius Urbicus built the Antonine Wall, largely on the line of Agricola's old Clyde-Forth string of forts. He also rebuilt the big Outpost stations such as Newstead, and turned the country betwen the Walls - roughly speaking, Lowland Scotland - into a sort of buffer territory to take the main shock of troubles in the North from Hadrian's Wall." Second century CE – A Circlet of Oak Leaves The "Northern" (Antonine) Wall is still being held in this story and wasn't finished until about 154 CE, so the story probably takes place somewhere between 154 and 164 CE or slightly later, after which point the Antonine Wall was largely abandoned. Trimontium, the location of some of the flashback action, was abandoned in 211 CE. 180s CE – The Mark of the Horse Lord Takes place something over forty years after the building of the Antonine (Northern) Wall in 142 CE by Lollius Urbicus. (The wall took twelve years to build, but was begun by Lollius Urbicus, governor of Britain in the early 140s.) The Northern Wall is still being held in this story after two uprisings. In reality the Antonine Wall was abandoned in the early 160s and not reoccupied until 208 under Septimius Severus. The events of the story span slightly over a year. 196 CE – Traprain Law (TCB) Dates for The Capricorn Bracelet are given in the chapter headings. The principal action takes place in "the year Clodius Albinus the Governor of Britain took so many troops overseas to make himself Emperor" and was defeated by the emperor Severus. ? Roman Britain – The Bridge-Builders The Bridge-Builders is set near Canovium in North Wales, a fort established in the late 1st century CE and used until the late 3rd. No historical events or persons are mentioned in the text. ? Roman Empire – The Fugitives "The Fugitives" takes place in a legionary headquarters in a province of the Roman Empire, but no historical or geographical details are mentioned in the text. 280 CE – Frontier Scout (TCB) Dates for The Capricorn Bracelet are given in the chapter headings. "Frontier Scout" takes place at the beginning of the Saxon incursions into Britain. 292-5 CE –- The Silver Branch The Silver Branch is set at the end of the Carausian Revolt of 286-296. The protagonist arrives in Britain in 292, a year before Carausius's death in 293. The revolt ends in June of 295 in the novel, rather than 296 as in reality. 341-3 CE – Frontier Wolf Frontier Wolf takes place over approximately a year and a half leading up to the visit of Constans to Britain in the winter of 342-3, which Sutcliff places just after Midwinter of 342. 383 CE – The Eagles Fly South (TCB) Dates for The Capricorn Bracelet are given in the chapter headings. "The Eagles Fly South" takes place during Magnus Maximus's 383 bid for the imperial throne. c. 450-472 CE – The Lantern Bearers The setting of this book has been given elsewhere as from 410 CE, presumably because of the description of Roman troops leaving Britain for the last time. However, the two definitely dateable events mentioned are later: 1) appeal to Aetius in Gaul (447 CE) 2) Second fall of Rome (455 CE) The Lantern Bearers describes the last Legions being withdrawn from Rome about 40 years before the start of the book: the troops we see being recalled from Rutupaie were Auxiliaries, not Legionaries, so it seems likely that the recall of the Legions is supposed to be the event recorded in 410 CE, and the events of the book are 40 years later. This dating means that Sword at Sunset, which follows on directly from Lantern Bearers and includes the same characters, now fits much better with the date range usually associated by historians with the Battle of Badon Hill, and also is consistent with Dawn Wind (set around 100 years after the death of Artos). The precise year intended for the beginning of The Lantern Bearers is unclear, however, as the time specified between the two dateable events is inaccurate – two years since Aetius's 446 consulship, but five years before the 455 fall of Rome. c. 472-500 CE – Sword at Sunset Sword at Sunset begins three days after The Lantern Bearers ends and ends shortly after the Battle of Badon Hill, traditionally dated around 500 CE. 585-597 CE – Dawn Wind Dawn Wind opens "nearly a hundred years" since Artos's death at the Battle of Badon, traditionally 500 CE, and spans twelve years leading up to the arrival of St. Augustine of Canterbury in England, traditionally 597 CE. 600 CE – The Shining Company The Shining Company takes place largely over the year leading up to the Battle of Catraeth, traditionally dated around 600 CE. The era is also said to be about hundred years since the reign of Artos, who dies at the Battle of Badon Hill, traditionally around 500. 886-891 – Sword Song Sword Song takes place over the course of five years against the background of the unification of the kingdom of Norway by Harald Finehair and the early settlement of Iceland, notably by Aud the Deep-Minded and the Vikings of the Western Isles. Aud the Deep-Minded's settlement of the Dales in the spring after her immigration to Iceland is given as A.D. 892 in T. Ellwood's notes to his 1898 translation of Ari the Learned's The Book of the Settlement of Iceland. This puts the conclusion of Sword Song in the autumn of 891 CE and its beginning in spring of 886. c. 986-992 CE – Blood Feud The most solidly dated historical event in the book is the death of Bardas Phocas in 989 CE; other events can be calculated forward and backward from this point. The main action of the book begins in 986 CE, when Jestyn is taken captive, and ends in 992 CE. The framing narration of an older Jestyn looking back on his life seems to take place some time after 120 CE. The real Varangian Guard was founded in 988 CE rather than 989 CE, and Khan Vladimir's marriage to Princess Anna may also have taken place this year, but precise timing of many of the historical events mentioned in the novel is uncertain. 1090s-1100s – The Shield Ring Death of William II (the Red) of England. 1090s – 1106 Knight's Fee Knight's Fee spans roughly a decade leading up to the Battle of Tenchebrai in 1106. 1116-1127 – The Witch's Brat When the main character, Lovel, is seventeen, Prince William dies at sea in 1121, a little before Christmas. The book thus begins when Lovel is eleven, in October of 1116, and ends in autumn of 1127. The majority of the book takes place between 1123, when construction of St. Bartholomew's Hospital and the associated priory began, and 1127. Discrepancies from history: In the book, Rahere is still the king's minstrel when Lovel first meets him in 1119; the real Rahere was already listed as a canon of St. Paul's Cathedral in a record from 1115. Also, Sutcliff refers to the wreck of the White Ship and Prince William's death being "a little before Christmas" in 1121; the real wreck took place on November 25, 1120. 1137 – Duncan the Red (We Lived In Drumfyvie) 1139 – The Red Sheriff (WLID) 1160 – Midsummer Fair (WLID) 1314 – The Man Who Liked a Peaceful Life (WLID) 1360 – A Burgess Builds His Home (WLID) 1450 – The Pest Comes to Drumfyvie (WLID) 1513 – The Man-at-Arms (WLID) c. 1534-5 – The Armourer's House Anne Boleyn is queen to Henry VIII and Elizabeth I is a baby. 1563 – A House With Glass Windows (WLID) ? – The Queen Elizabeth Story Takes place over the year leading up to a royal procession through western England. c. 1590 – Brother Dusty-Feet Hugh crosses paths with a young Sir Walter Raleigh, newly arrived back in England. 1564-1618 – Lady in Waiting 1642-1644 – The Rider of the White Horse Covers the English Civil War in the North, from the outbreak of hostilities to the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644. 1640-1646 – Simon The first three chapters of Simon take place in 1640, 41, and 42, while the central events of the story go from tre Battle of Lostwithiel in September 1644 to the Battle of Torrington in February 1646, with the epilogue in 1650. 1648 – We Sign the Covenant (WLID) 1650 – God Be with You (WLID) 1683-1695 – Bonnie Dundee Bonnie Dundee opens with John Graham of Claverhouse's campaigns against the Covenanters of 1683-4, covers the Glorious Revolution of 1688, and culminates in the Battle of Killicrankie in 1689. The resolution occurs at the death of Jean Cochrane in 1695, while the frame story takes place two generations later, when the narrator has sub-adult grandchildren. 1785 - Drumfyvie Elects a Provost (WLID) 1807-1815 – Blood and Sand 1897 – The Jubilee Wing (WLID)